Samsung SDI CEO Cho Nam Seong (Sixth from left in front row), Shaanxi Province Vice Governor Jiang Feng (Fifth from left in front row), Samsung China President Jang Won Ki (Third from right in front row) are cutting the tape at the completion ceremony for the Samsung SDI Xi'an EV battery plant.

CCM, a "leading market intelligence provider for China’s agriculture, chemicals, food & ingredients and life science markets," has issued a new report on the nation's lithium-ion battery industry.

"In China, the development of alternative energy vehicles and the Li-ion battery sector are booming with the support of promotional policies from the Chinese government, according to new report from CCM...In May 2016 alone, nearly RMB2.6 billion (US$400 million) flowed into the Li-ion battery market, with Tianqi Lithium, Ganfeng Lithium and GEM CO., Ltd. putting in the most capital."

How booming is the li-ion sector? Well, if you examine the output it's obvious that the growth is huge:

"In 2014, China produced 5.43 billion Li-ion batteries, with a CAGR of around 40% and accounting for about 70% of the total output in the global, according to CCM’s new report Market and Development Trend of Li-ion Battery in China, 2016-2020."

"The output of Li-ion battery exceeded 5 million for the first time in 2014 and reached 5.6 million in 2015, up by 3.13% year-in-year. As for the capacity, in 2015, the domestic output of power Li-ion battery increased to 15.7 GWh, triple than that of the last year."

Sales of electric cars have been trending upwards at a rapid rate in China. So too has investment in battery factories in China. CCM adds:

"Nearly 80% of new investment worldwide in Li-on batteries was located in China in 2014, according to CCM. There were 25 Li-ion battery projects in China with the scale of investment above RMB100 million (US$15 million). Multinational enterprises such as Samsung SDI and LG Chem are active in developing Li-ion batteries in China."

Samsung SDI's investment in its newest battery factory in Xi'an China was the nation's biggest (~$580 million) in all of 2015, but expansion is already underway at the Xi'an site, as well as at other battery factories throughout China.

Even Tesla is eyeing a factory in China, though it's not yet known if this will actually happen, nor is it clear if Tesla intends to set up a battery factory in China too.